No Deposit Casino Bonus Rules – A Beginner's Guide
Ever wondered how no deposit bonuses work, and what to make of all the fine print on the casinos' promotion pages?
In this comprehensive beginner's guide, we shed some light on the most critical bonus rules you should consider when using a no deposit bonus.
Read on to get a handle on no deposit bonuses and take full advantage of our no deposit offers.
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✖How We Rank Casino Bonuses using BonusRank
Not just any online casino makes the grade. We have a strict process for testing online casinos to determine whether we even list them.
Once we approve a casino, our team of experts starts the real work. And it's thorough. Our unique BonusRank algorithm considers all the important aspects of a bonus and calculates a score that allows meaningful and direct comparison between bonuses. You don't have to guess, our rating scale will clearly show you if a bonus is great, good enough, or should be avoided.
Read more about our BonusRank system and how we make bonus comparisons.
✖The Most Important Rules to Consider When Getting a No Deposit Bonus
Below, we've listed the most important things to think about when you sign-up for a no deposit bonus.
If all this is Greek to you, don't worry – we'll explain these bonus rules in a lot more detail later on in this article.
- Wagering requirements – How much you need to play to turn your bonus into withdrawable cash.
- Win limits – How much of your bonus winnings the casino will allow you to withdraw.
- Weighted and excluded games – How different games affect your wagering requirement, and what games the casino won't let you play with your bonus.
- Bet size limits – The maximum stake the casino will allow you to play with.
- IP address restrictions – Whether other people have claimed the same bonus from your IP address.
- Restrictions of using bonuses on multiple sites – Whether you've claimed an offer from another casino site belonging to the same gaming company.
What Is a No Deposit Bonus?
No deposit bonus offers consist of either bonuses or free spins. You’ll find everything you need to know about them on our dedicated pages about no deposit bonuses and free spins.
How Wagering Requirements Work
Bonus wagering is the most important, and perhaps trickiest, aspect to understand about casino bonuses.
That said, it's imperative you grasp how wagering requirements work before you claim a no deposit bonus.
Here are the key points to understanding wagering requirements:
- Your player account has two separate balances – a cash balance and a bonus balance.
- The money you deposit is added to your cash balance. Bonuses are credited to your bonus balance by the casino.
- You can only withdraw funds from your cash balance.
- You play with the money you've deposited first. When you've exhausted your cash balance, you'll start playing with bonus credits. When it comes to no deposit bonuses, you'll play with bonus credits immediately, as these bonuses don't require a deposit.
- You'll have to play a certain amount to convert your bonus to withdrawable cash. This is what's called a wagering requirement.
- When you've completed the wagering requirement, the casino will instantly transfer any remaining bonus funds to your cash balance. You're now able to withdraw your winnings.
Before you claim for a casino bonus, always take some time to read the terms and conditions. There are always bonus rules that you need to be aware of to get the most out of your bonus.
So, how much do you need to play to convert your bonus to real money?
Well, wagering requirements are always a multiplication of:
- The amount of bonus credits the casino has given you.
- The amount you've won with your no deposit free spins.
Wagering requirements typically range from 30 to 45 times these amounts.
We always list important terms and conditions on our casino reviews. That way you won’t have to read the fine print after claiming a no deposit bonus - you’ll know exactly what to expect when you sign up with your preferred casino.
So, if you get a £/€/$10 bonus with a wagering requirement of 30x, you'll need to bet £/€/$300 to convert the bonus to real money.
See this example:
£/€/$10 no deposit bonus x a wagering requirement of 30x = £/€/$300 to wager.
When it comes to free spins, the casino will apply the wagering requirement to the sum you've won.
Let’s demonstrate this with an example of a real offer:
Let’s assume you claim Bitstarz’s 25 no deposit free spins and manage to win £/€/$100.
Now, Bitstarz will add the win as bonus credits to your bonus balance and apply the 40x wagering requirement in the same way we've demonstrated in the previous example.
£/€/$100 free spins win x a wagering requirement of 40x = £/€/$4,000 to wager.
Once you've completed the wagering requirement, Bitstarz will instantly transfer any remaining bonus funds to your cash balance. And you can always keep track of your wagering requirement in your account settings.
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Low Wagering Requirements
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Bet Size Limits
Casinos manage risk by setting bet size limits for their bonuses. The idea is to restrict your chances of converting a bonus to withdrawable cash.
In other words, the casino won't let you play with any bet size you like. Typically, casinos will set bet size limits of £/€/$5 per spin.
To understand why casinos set these limits, you need to consider two facts:
- Casino wins are always relative to the stake you play with.
- The higher a win multiplier is, the more seldom it occurs. Slots are mathematically designed to pay out big wins less frequently.
Here's an example that puts this into context:
Let's assume you claim 888Casino’s match deposit offer of 100% bonus up to £/€/$200. with a wagering requirement of 30x.
Let’s say you deposit £/€/$100, this is what you're left with:
- £/€/$100 worth of bonus credits.
- A wagering requirement of £/€/$3,000.
Let's assume you bet £/€/$50 per spin. This means you would need to win 80 times your bet to cover your wagering requirement.
£/€/$3,000 wagering requirement/ £/€/$50 stake = 60.
Now, let's use the same example and apply the typical £/€/$5 bet size limit. All of a sudden, you need to win 600 times your stake to cover that same wagering requirement.
£/€/$3,000 wagering requirement/ £/€/$5 stake = 600.
With the win multiplier increasing tenfold, your chances of completing the wagering requirement have naturally decreased drastically.
As you can see, bet size limits make a huge difference when it comes to casinos keeping a favourable house edge.
Win Limits
In conjunction with wagering requirements, casinos will impose win limits.
These limits are exactly what they sound like - rules that hinder you from winning more than a certain amount.
By setting these limits, casinos make sure they can’t lose more than a certain amount when a player manages to wager a no deposit bonus.
Win limits vary from one casino to another and are something you should always consider when comparing bonuses.
Weighted and Excluded Games - How Games Affect Your Wagering Requirement
This is another rule that casinos implement to regulate your chances of winning real money with a no deposit bonus. This is not very applicable to no deposit bonuses, since they’re almost always only valid on slots. However, this is still a term you should be familiar with.
"Game weighting" is commonly used term in the industry, and refers to the percentage of bets that contribute towards your wagering requirement in a specific game.
To give you an example, live casino games and table games generally contribute between 5% and 10% to your wagering requirement. So, if you bet £/€/$1,00 in these games, the casino will only deduct between £/€/$0.05 and £/€/$0.10 from your wagering requirement.
Slots are usually 100% weighted, which means your entire stake will count towards your wagering requirement. However, casinos will always exclude certain slots from bonus wagering. Generally, they will exclude volatile slots that can potentially pay out huge wins.
Online casinos exclude such slots to lessen your chances of winning large sums that can instantly cover your entire wagering requirement.Casinos will always provide a list of excluded slots, along with a full game weighting index, in their general terms and conditions.
Here’s an example showing game writing percentages at Casino.com:
As you can see, slots are full weighted while Roulette, Baccarat and Blackjack have game weighting percentages ranging between 5% and 20%.
Expiry Dates and Time Restrictions
Bonuses generally have expiry dates. Furthermore, you will often have to use and wager your bonus within a specified period.
Here are some examples of typical time constraints:
- You have to use a bonus within 30 days of registering an account.
- You must wager a bonus within 7 days of claiming it.
These examples aren't rules set in stone as expiry dates and time restrictions differ from one casino to another. Always check what rules apply to an offer you’re interested in.
Account Restrictions
Just like with all casino bonuses, no deposit offers are excluded to one bonus per:
- Household.
- Person.
- IP address.
This means that several persons in the same household can't claim the same offer, even if they have separate accounts.
It also means you should avoid claiming bonuses from public places where several people share the same IP address.
A casino will confiscate your bonus if you fail to comply with these terms.
Claiming Bonuses from Several Casinos Belonging to The Same Company
Many larger gaming companies that own several casino sites often restrict players to using one bonus across all their brands.
For instance, if you've claimed a bonus with Zodiac Casino, you won't be eligible for the no deposit bonus offered by Casino Action, as both sites belong to Casino Rewards.
Why Understanding No Deposit Bonus Terms and Conditions Is So Important
Terms and conditions are often what make or break an offer.
By having a complete understanding of the most essential bonus terms, you'll:
- be able to accurately assess and compare different bonuses and casinos.
- know if you have a reasonable chance of winning real money.
- know if you’re able to play your favourite games.
- know if you're eligible for a no deposit bonus.
Many casinos lure players in with seemingly great offers. However, when reading the fine print, you might discover that the offer is about as useful as play money. If wagering requirements and win limits are unreasonable, your chances of actually winning real money are next to none.
At NoDepositRewards, we do a lot of the hard work for you by weeding out casinos with unreasonable bonus terms. However, there are still aspects you need to investigate when comparing bonuses and casinos.
And once you’ve grasped the information in this guide, you'll be able to skim through terms and conditions and quickly get an understanding of an offer's true value.
Learn No Deposit Bonus Terms and Conditions to Find The Best Bonuses
Once you've absorbed the information in this guide, you'll have an easy time deciphering bonus terms and making accurate comparisons of our offers and casinos.